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Aeglos
Aiglos or Aeglos (meaning "snow-point" or "snow-thorn" or more commonly "icicle") was the famed glaive of Gil-galad . He wielded Aiglos in the War of the Last Alliance and the forces of Sauron greatly feared it. Description The spear that belonged to Gil-galad, king of the Noldorin Elves, who was slain during the War of the Last Alliance. In The Fellowship of the Ring it is also called a lance, suggesting that Gil-galad used it as such on horseback. It stood nine feet high; the blade was recurved and almost two feet long and was etched in brass filigree. The spear must surely have been in Gil-galad's possession for some time before the Battle of Dagorlad, and may well have dated back to the First Age or even before but Tolkien never wrote about it. Nevertheless, the Battle is the only situation where the spear explicitly appears. The blade bears the following Elvish inscription: Gil-galad ech vae vaegannen matha Aith heleg nín i orch gostatha Nin cíniel na ngurutho Hon ess nín istatha: Aeglos Gil-galad wields a well-made spear The Orc will fear my point of ice When he sees me, in fear of death He will know my name: Aeglos Origin of the name ]]Aiglos means "snow-point" or "icicle." The element aeg means "point" from ayak meaning "sharp, pointed". The element los means "snow". There are two variant spellings of this spear's name, Aiglos and Aeglos (though they are pronounced in the same way, and would be written identically in Elvish characters). Aiglos is the spelling in most earlier editions of The Lord of the Rings, but has been adjusted in more recent editions to Aeglos. It was called such because when orcs saw this spear, they would recognize it by its reputation as a weapon which would bring a cold death to them. It stood nine feet high; the blade was recurved and almost two feet long and was etched in brass filigree. What happened after Gil-Galad's death Tolkien never wrote about what happened to Aeglos after the death of its wielder but there are two principal schools of thought: * Some people beleive that after Gil-galad fell in battle at the foot of Mount Doom, Aiglos was borne by Elrond back to Rivendell. Here it was placed in the grand chamber alongside the shards of Narsil, so that the two legendary weapons should remain as close in death as their two wielders had been in life. * Another possibility is that when Gil-Galad and Elendil were slain by Sauron, the blade of Ailgos melted and the rest of the spear were buried with its wielder. Appearences portrays Gil-galad holding the spear Aiglos in the 2001 film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.]] In literature Tolkien mentions Aeglos in the following places: * * *Unfinished Tales'': "Narn I Hin Hurin," p. 148 note 14 In movie In the Lord of the Rings film trilogy by Peter Jackson, Gil-galad, portrayed by Mark Ferguson, appears very briefly in the first film during the opening prologue sequence. He is never mentioned by name in any of the films, although he is mentioned in the behind the scenes documentaries included with the Extended Edition DVD of The Fellowship of the Ring. See also * Gil-Galad * War of the Last Alliance External link Aiglos at The Thain's Book Aiglos Elvish inscriptions Notes Category:Weapons